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I have a little problem. I'm addicted to cookbooks, food writing, recipe collecting, and cooking. I have a lot of recipes waiting for me to try them, and ideas from articles, tv, and restaurants often lead to new dishes. I started losing track of what I've done. So now I'm taking photos and writing about what I've prepared—unless it's terrible in which case I forget it ever happened.

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Saturday, August 15, 2009

It had actually been three and a half months since I last made scones, and that’s kind of a long time. Every scone recipe looks good to me, and I found five of them in Vegetarian Classics. The ginger cream and the double almond were very tempting, but I chose to make the Irish wholemeal scones first because they sounded kind of healthy. They look like healthy scones too, don’t you think? Of course, they’re not health food of the strictest variety given that they have a good dose of butter in them. The author, Jeanne Lemlin mentioned some scones she had in Skibbereen, County Cork that were like Irish brown bread. She set out to re-create them at home using whole wheat flour which is the closest we have to Irish wholemeal flour. Hopefully, my friends in Dublin can let me know if these look like authentic Irish scones or not.

They’re made with unbleached flour, whole wheat flour, oats, and wheat germ. A scant two tablespoons of sugar sweetens them just enough, and butter, buttermilk, and one egg give them rich flavor. I had a small handful of currants leftover from another recipe, so I added them to the scone dough. The dough was patted into a disk, and it was to be cut into 12 triangular scones. I may have left the disk a little thicker than I should have, and 12 cuts would have made rather slender scones, so I went with eight larger ones instead. The tops were brushed with milk, and I decided to sprinkle on some extra oats and a little turbinado sugar just for the added visual appeal. The oats on top give them that healthy look.

Scones and muffins are Kurt’s favorite things for breakfast because they’re very grab and go. He liked that these were only lightly sweetened, and the combined flours, wheat germ, and oats gave them an almost nutty taste. They were light and tender, and if you take the time to sit down with one of them, they go very nicely with strawberry preserves. It won’t be long before I try the other scones in this book or recipes from elsewhere, but I’ll definitely be making these again too.

I love scones and these look incedible - a favorite neighborhood bakery, Arizmendies makes these incredible cheese scones that knock your socks off, but these beauties look like they could hold their own

Oh they look pretty good from where I'm sitting :) For me, brown scones are just like wholemeal bread - I usually wouldn't sweeten them at all as I generally get all of the sweetness I need from the jams that I load on top! I also love having some oats thrown into the mix. Any chance you could send some my way?

I'd like a piece, just like the one in your first photograph (with a nice dollop of preserves!) The moment you mentioned that these were the result of Jeanne Lemlin trying to recreate Irish brown bread-like scones, I was hooked! I haven't yet found just the right recipe for the brown bread I fell in love with during our visit to Ireland, but for the time being, perhaps I'll just go straight to the scones first. 8-)

Gorgeous. I love scones, but X doesn't, so if I make them, I end up eating all of them...which really isn't a bad thing. I love that these are made with a mix of flour and oats -- sort of like the oatmeal cookie of scones!